Fire and life safety technicians manage through daily hazards to keep people safe and businesses operational. Employers need to provide them with the necessary protection required for onsite work.
Taking precautionary steps, most importantly, keeps your employees safe and reduces the chance of potential liability should an employee become injured or ill while at their job site.
Let's discuss some of the most impactful measures that can be taken to adequately protect fire and life safety technicians from workplace-related injuries and how Impact Fire prioritizes physical safety to promote sustained employee satisfaction, appreciation, and engagement.
Securing Physical Safety: 6 Essential Tips for Fire and Life Safety Technicians
The physical safety of fire and life safety technicians is of the utmost importance, as they face various risks while working. Some of the most common dangers include:
- Material handling/lifting
- Struck-by injuries from dropped or falling objects
- Lacerations from sharp objects
- Falls from height or slip/trip/fall injuries
As fire and life safety professionals, it is essential to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions when responding to emergency calls onsite. Here are a few best practices for ensuring fire technicians’ physical safety.
- Practice good jobsite and warehouse housekeeping
- Properly choose, maintain and store any tools, equipment, or materials.
- Select and wear required personal protective equipment (PPE) specific to the work hazards.
- Use the job hazard analysis (JHA) tools to identify and correct hazards.
- Follow training and safe work procedures.
- Adopt a stop-work culture that empowers technicians to speak up when conditions are unsafe.
How Impact Fire Promotes Fire Technician Safety
Businesses need to create a physical and psychologically healthy environment where employees have the confidence to ask questions, challenge the status quo, and perform their job responsibilities safely. OSHA requires employers to provide employees with an environment free from hazards that may cause death or serious physical harm.
Impact Fire utilizes a multi-pronged approach to provide a safe work environment, some are outlined below. As a result, we're proud to have been able to achieve the below safety performance in 2022:
- Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR) of .08, which is an 88% reduction over last year's .66. Impact’s LTIR is well below the industry standard of 1.4.
- Over one year and 2M+ hours worked without a lost time injury.
Company-Wide Safety Committee - Each district's representative attends monthly to review investigations, near misses, program updates, and new initiatives. Each district sets individual goals based on trends and local hazards. Recent projects include a boot reimbursement and safety recognition programs.
District Focus Program - Support program for districts struggling with leading indicator behaviors or injury trends.
Stop-Work Authority - Leadership empowers fire technicians to stop work whenever a hazard or unsafe condition is recognized.
Internal Technical Training - In addition to OSHA-required content, our IVES-trained Safety Team provides specialized training and certifications in confined space, fall protection, lifts, and other topics.
Return-To-Work Program - Impact Fire is committed to returning every injured employee to work by partnering with occupational physicians and making accommodations as needed.
Supporting Employee Physical Safety: A Long-Term Commitment
Impact Fire’s expansive and evolving Safety Program will continue to emphasize overall fire technician health. With an unwavering commitment to physical safety and mental health, we’re excited to launch future initiatives to provide continued support for our employees.
Are you interested in joining the Impact Fire team? See our open positions and learn more about starting your fire protection career at a growing company that delivers competitive benefits, career development opportunities, and industry-leading support.
A special thanks to Kristen Cooper, Vice President of Risk Management and Fleet at AI Fire, for helping us illustrate the importance of physical safety. We wish you continued success in your inspiring fire and life safety career.
